Kathmandu, September 8
Dealing a major blow to the counter-insurgency drive, 48 policemen were
killed and 19 injured when at least 1000 Maoists attacked a police post
in eastern Nepal in their first major strike since Emergency was lifted
on August 28 in the Himalyan kingdom.

Bodies of Nepalese policemen
killed in Sindhuli district are unloaded at a hospital in
Kathmandu on Sunday. —
Reuters photo

A US bodyguard walks with his machine gun in front of Afghan President Hamid Karzai (rear L) after Karzai arrived at the
US Rhein Main Air Base in Frankfurt before a brief meeting with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer in
Frankfurt
on Sunday. In his first trip since an attempt on his life three days ago, Karzai stopped over in Germany on his way to the
USA, where he will attend the UN General Assembly debate and ceremonies marking the anniversary of the September 11 attack.
— Reuters

WINDOW ON PAKISTANSeptember 11 in Pak
contextIf September 11 has occupied an important place in the history of the USA, it also has special significance for Pakistan. In the wake of the cataclysmic developments this day last year, the course of socio-political life in Pakistan too took an unexpected turn.

Jockey Todd Austin does trackwork at sunrise on the day of the Australian outback horse races at Birdsdville, about 1,400 km west of Brisbane, on
Saturday. The colourful annual races, which are run in the sand, attract thousands of people travelling hundreds of kilometres across the Simpson Desert to the outback town of
Birdsville. — Reuters

India
asked to provide transit to LTTE leaderColombo, September 8
Peace broker Norway is in talks with the Indian Government seeking
permission for Tamil Tiger negotiator Anton Balasingham to transit
through southern India on his way to the island.

Give visas to blacklisted Sikhs: NCMLondon, September 8
In a fresh bid to assimilate Sikh extremist elements into the mainstream, Vice-Chairman of the National Minorities commission Tarlochan Singh has suggested temporary visas for Sikhs blacklisted in India for holding protests against Operation Bluestar so that they could go to the homeland and judge the changes for themselves.

Church attacker, 3 other ultras shotMultan, September 8
Four suspected militants, including one linked to a deadly attack on a Catholic church, were killed in a pre-dawn shoot-out in Pakistan today, the police said.
The battle began when gunmen attacked the police who were escorting two arrested militants to Kathiwala village near Lodhran in Punjab province.

The sunset wasn't
quite the same as that of the desert skies depicted in the
movie, still the weather and the crowds came out to greet
Shekhar Kapur as he walked the Deauville red carpet at the
world premier for his latest movie, "The Four
Feathers."(28k,
56k)

Kathmandu, September 8
Dealing a major blow to the counter-insurgency drive, 48 policemen were killed and 19 injured when at least 1000 Maoists attacked a police post in
eastern Nepal in their first major strike since Emergency was lifted on August 28 in the Himalyan kingdom.

Another 11 policemen were missing after the surprise midnight attack on the police post of Bhimad in Sindhuli district, Minister of State for Home Devender Raj Kandel said before leaving for the site of the attack.

The rebels attacked the post manned by 70 policemen, killing 40.The police personnel fought the rebels for four hours and the fighting continued till 4 am, Mr Kandel said, adding some rebels might had been killed in the attack.

No communication link could be established till early this morning as the rebels destroyed the communication
system, officials said.

The Maoists also blocked the Sindhu-Bardibas road to prevent the movement of additional security forces in the area, sources said.

The Maoists ran away early in the morning after additional security forces were sent to the Sindhul Police post to fight the terrorists, Mr Kandel said, describing the incident as a major loss to the government war against the rebels.

He called for immediate re-imposition of Emergency and criticised the politicians opposed to the move. “It is easier to say that Emergency is not necessary by staying in Kathmandu, but in the districts outside the capital the situation is still worse,” he said.

There has been a series of blasts in the capital since the state of Emergency was lifted.

The attack comes a week ahead of a general strike announced by the Maoists for
September16. PTI

Camp David, September 8
The US President, Mr George W. Bush, has said there was ample evidence Iraq’s Saddam Hussein is developing weapons of mass destruction.

He cited satellite photos released by a UN agency that showed unexplained construction at Iraq sites that weapons inspectors once visited to search for evidence that
President Saddam was trying to develop nuclear arms.

“I don’t know what more evidence we need” to make the case for taking action against the Iraqi President, Mr Bush said yesterday as he greeted British Prime Minister Tony Blair at Camp David for a weekend strategy session on Iraq.

The meeting came five days before Mr Bush addresses the United Nations, where he is expected to challenge the international community to take quick, tough action to disarm President Saddam or the
USA will be obligated to act on its own.

Hanover: French President Jacques Chirac said Paris was keeping its options open over possible military action against Iraq, but had full understanding for Germany’s outright rejection of any involvement.

Speaking after an informal meeting with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in the German leader’s private home in Hanover on
Saturday, Mr Chirac said Germany and France agreed they were opposed to unilateral military action and reiterated their call to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to allow arms inspectors to return unconditionally.

"Due to its membership of the (U.N.) Security Council, France will ,of course, wait and see how the debate progresses in the Security Council before taking a position,’’ Mr Chirac told reporters after the meeting.

"Overall, I’d like to say there is more or less coherent European position
Germany would definitely not take part in any US-led
action. Reuters

Milan, September 8
Mohammed Atta consulted Saddam Hussein before leading the suicide attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, according to Richard Perle, an advisor to the US Defence Secretary.

“Mohammed Atta met Saddam Hussein in Baghdad prior to September 11. We have proof of that, and we are sure he wasn’t just there for a holiday,” Perle told Italy’s business daily “Il Sole 24 Ore”.
AFP

LONDON, September 8
Britain’s most radical Islamic group,
Al-Muhajiroun, is planning a controversial conference on September 11, highlighting ‘’the positive outcome’’ of last year’s attacks, according to its
website.

Entitled "A Towering Day in History", the conference will be held at London’s Finsbury Park Mosque, home to firebrand cleric Abu Hamza
al-Masri and previously visited by terror suspects, including Zacarias
Moussaoui, an alleged conspirator in the attacks.

Masri is to deliver a speech in the evening
entitled "The U.S. conspiracy against Islam and Muslims’’, while
Al-Muhajiroun founder Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed will speak on "The
positive outcome of September 11".
Reuters

If September 11 has occupied an important place in the history of the USA, it also has special significance for Pakistan. In the wake of the cataclysmic developments this day last year, the course of socio-political life in Pakistan too took an unexpected turn. The coming September 11 is going to be memorable but in a different context. Whether by accident or design, on this historic day the
election tribunals (there are seven in all) will finally hear the appeals filed by former Prime Minister and PPP leader Benazir Bhutto against the rejection of her nomination papers for the October 10 National Assembly poll. She had filed her papers from three places in Sindh province for one of the 60 seats reserved for women. The hearing is, as can be guessed, only to fulfil the legal requirements. Otherwise, her fate is almost sealed, at it appears at this stage.

The Election Commission will announce the final list of candidates on September 15 without BB (short for Benazir Bhutto) in the fray. Hence the change in her much-publicised decision to come back home from self-imposed exile in Dubai and face the consequences. She might have calculated all this much before displaying her false bravado. The drama she enacted might have been aimed at testing her popularity which still remains quite formidable. The problem, however, is the ruling General who is hell bent on keeping her out.

BB, in any case, is an accomplished, though cunning, politician. Since the very beginning she had been throwing hints at joining hands with exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the struggle to defeat “fascism” represented by President Pervez Musharraf’s military regime. She, however, appeared to be non-committal till the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) leader took the initiative and offered his hand of cooperation by withdrawing his nomination papers to express solidarity with BB after the rejection of her papers from all three places. She is obviously moved by the gesture and has admitted her past mistakes, which included an appeal to the army to take over the government before Mr Sharif was finally shown the door by General Musharraf.

Even now very few people are prepared to believe BB. A newspaper reader, Khurshid Anwer, whose letter was carried by The Nation on September 1, points out:

“We still remember how BB lured MNS (Mian Nawaz Sharif) into taking on Ghulam Ishaque Khan on the matter of powers of the President to dismiss (elected) governments. He fell into the trap hook, line and sinker, becoming too vocal on the issue, while she cleverly joined hands with her enemy Ghulam Ishaque to get rid of MNS with the full connivance of the President’s crony, Gen Waheed Kakar.

“Benazir Bhutto is quite capable of giving even Machiavelli a bad name. She does not believe in ‘playing and letting play’, and has a team fully equipped to queer the pitch for the batting side. This has been the major cause for the derailment of democracy in Pakistan.”

Before the announcement of the election schedule she seemed agreeable to an understanding with General Musharraf if she could be allowed to become Prime Minister in an event of her party securing a majority in the National Assembly with General Musharraf as President. Reports then suggested that she met the General’s emissaries in Dubai to sort out the problems coming in the way of an undisclosed power-sharing agreement. Her fresh attempt for Prime Ministership by hook or by crook failed to fructify as the ruling General refused to accept her conditions. Where was the democrat in her which did not prevent BB from discussing any formula that aimed at allowing the military dictator to remain in power? The General then wanted to ensure that Mr Nawaz Sharif or any other member of his family was not successful in staging a comeback through elections.

This is not to say that Mr Nawaz Sharif is a saint. He too never bothered to strengthen democratic institutions when he was in power. He too indulged in vendetta politics. He resorted to all sorts of corrupt practices to make his billions. But, by any yardstick, Ms Benazir Bhutto has done greater harm to the cause of democracy than her contemporaries. These days she is reportedly undergoing introspection. She has already accepted some of her major follies. In the days to come, one hopes, she may herself realise as being the biggest spoiler of all the living political players in Pakistan.

Colombo, September 8
Peace broker Norway is in talks with the Indian Government seeking permission for Tamil Tiger negotiator Anton Balasingham to transit through southern India on his way to the island.

Newspaper reports said today that Balasingham wanted to fly through the southern Indian state of Kerala to brief Tamil Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran after next week’s landmark peace talks in Thailand.

“The Norwegian authorities are in contact with the Government of India to arrange for Balasingham to fly to Wanni from a location in Kerala,” the Sunday Times said.

Oslo’s renewed bid to win Indian permission comes about six months after New Delhi turned down an appeal from Balasingham that he be allowed to use a southern Indian base as a safer option to staying in Sri Lanka.

New Delhi reiterated last week that its 1992 outlawing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) would remain in place, despite Colombo lifting its own ban on Thursday to clear the way for the peace conference.

Balasingham, who will lead a four-member team at the government-LTTE peace talks opening September 16, has been at the forefront of negotiations with Norwegian diplomats engaged in the peace bid.
IANS

London, September 8
In a fresh bid to assimilate Sikh extremist elements into the mainstream, Vice-Chairman of the National Minorities commission (NCM) Tarlochan Singh has suggested temporary visas for Sikhs blacklisted in India for holding protests against Operation Bluestar so that they could go to the homeland and judge the changes for themselves.

“The government has already removed all but about 100 names from the list. Even those Sikhs, irrespective of their political affiliations should be given temporary visas to visit their families or the Golden Temple,” Mr Tarlochan Singh told PTI here last night.

He said he had already written to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani and met him in this regard.

“The indications are that the government is keen to remove the ban permanently,” said Mr Tarlochan Singh, who is here on an official visit.

He has already met with several Sikh groups in London and Birmingham, including some of the extremist groups who, he said had assured him that they would not participate in any anti-India or Kashmiri
demonstrations. PTI

London, September 8
Raising a fresh controversy, India’s National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Vice-Chairman Tarlochan Singh has sought that the last Sikh ruler Duleep Singh’s remains be brought back to Punjab for performing his last rites according to Hindu/Sikh rituals.

Mr Tarlochan Singh’s suggestion was welcomed by the huge gathering, including Mr Kuldeep Nayyar, MP, former High Commissioner of India to UK.
PTI

Multan, September 8
Four suspected militants, including one linked to a deadly attack on a Catholic church, were killed in a pre-dawn shoot-out in Pakistan today, the police said.

The battle began when gunmen attacked the police who were escorting two arrested militants to Kathiwala village near Lodhran in Punjab province. Iftikhar Ahmed Chaudhry, police chief of Multan, said the three attackers managed to free Mohammad Wasim, 24, and his associate Mohammad Akram.

The police chased the gunman and in the ensuing battle four persons were killed, including Wasim, Akram and two of the attackers, he said. Another attacker managed to escape, the police chief said.

Wasim, arrested last month in the nearby town of Vehari, was being taken to the village to recover weapons which he had dumped in a hide-out, Mr Chaudhry said.

The police say he was an activist of the banned Sunni Muslim militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and an explosive expert.
AFP

Islamabad, September 8
The Pakistan Muslim League (N) is collecting evidence of what it calls a record of pre-poll rigging which would be made public soon.

“All the evidences of pre-poll rigging are being recorded and will be made public at an appropriate time,” PML(N) Chairman Raja Zafarul Haque, who has a vast electoral experience since the 1985 partyless polls, told Dawn on Saturday.

“Interference by the government has never been on such a scale as we have witnessed this time,” he said, urging the Musharraf government to hold free, fair and impartial elections on October 10.
ANI

Peshawar, September 8
The Pakistan election authorities today barred a former General from standing in next month’s parliamentary elections because of his alleged involvement in a 1996 coup plot, officials said. Major-Gen Zaheerul Islam Abbasi’s (retd) nomination papers were turned down last week and his appeal was rejected by a two-judge election tribunal today, they said.
AFP

GLOBAL
MONITOR

BANGLADESH VARSITY CLOSED
DHAKA: The authorities closed Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) indefinitely on Sunday following weeks of student unrest. “We have decided to close the university with immediate effect in the face of continuing student unrest and their attempt to create anarchy on the campus,” Vice-Chancellor Ali Murtaza told reporters. The students have been asked to vacate their dormitories by the evening, he said.
Reuters

‘WEEPING’ VIRGIN MARY A BIG DRAW
PERTH (Australia): A statue of the Virgin Mary bought for $ 150 in Thailand is attracting pilgrims by the hundreds to a suburban household here amid claims it has started to weep fragrant tears. Devout Catholic Patty Powell (47) bought the fibreglass statue from a shop in Bangkok eight years ago, and recently discovered its eyes had started to drip a rose-scented oil-like substance.
AFP

ISRAELI SWOOP ON PALESTINIANS
JERUSALEM: The army arrested 17 Palestinians in the village of Yatta, south of the West Bank city of Hebron on Sunday, Palestinian witnesses said. Israeli troops were hunting a policeman, but arrested several of his relatives and neighbours after failing to track him down, the witnesses said. The spokesman added that West Bank cities, nearly all of which Israel has reoccupied since June, were under curfew for the day.
AFP

PAK
TIT-BITS

PLEA TO DE-FREEZE BENAZIR'S ASSETS
ISLAMABAD: The Accountability Court of Rawalpindi has issued a notice to the Prosecutor- General, National Accountability Bureau, on applications moved by the Baluchistan Government and Muslim Commercial Bank for de-freezing the frozen assets of former premier Benazir Bhutto. The petitioners, in their applications, urged the court that the frozen assets of the involved parties should be cleared, The Nation reported on Sunday.
UNI

PRO-TALIBAN PAMPHLETS IN CIRCULATION
PESHAWAR: Pamphlets calling for jehad against the “US-backed puppet government” of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai have been distributed in a tribal area in northwest Pakistan for the third time in recent months, residents said at the weekend.
AFP

TEACHERS, STUDENTS BATON-CHARGED
KARACHI: Tension, running in the Karachi campus, took an ugly turn on Saturday when the Rangers baton-charged scores of teachers and students, protesting against what they called the arbitrary and unlawful measures of the university administration. Over 24 teachers and students, were injured.
ANI